PSA.

I like the Spark-lite. Have for years. A couple years ago I switched over the the Ultimate Survival Sparkie b/c it provided more spark as its basically a one handed ferro rod.

The only complaint I had for time I carried it was the rod deployed all the time in my EDC bag. (It is spring loaded into the handle and a simple pinch at the base activates.) Otherwise it did a great job of starting dozens of impromptu fires.

Earlier this year, the 'striker' started to skip along the ferro rod causing a progressively worse percentage of spark per use, apparently I was smoothing out the the rod and as the 'striker' is set in place, its become harder to maintain enough contact for ignition.

I have since removed the Sparkie and put the Spark-Lite back in the pack as one of my redundant fire starting methods.